The Assyrian nation currently stands at a cross-road; its very
survival will be determined in the next few decades by the road it
embarks upon. The vicissitudes experienced by our nation have
served to harden it, and our nation has survived many cataclysmic
events in its long history. Yet, as I shall argue in this paper,
the survival mechanisms which have been developed in the past six
thousand years, and which have served our nation so well in preserving
its entity, are the very cause of its current decline and, if left
unchanged, its eventual extinction.

As will be shown in this paper, the Assyrian nation has adopted new
survival mechanisms several times in its history, and it can do so again
in the present time. New survival mechanisms are needed to insure
the survival of our nation in this new world it finds itself in.
These survival mechanisms must have certain basic properties.

A survival mechanism is an ideology, a set of principles which lead
from abstract doctrines to concrete actions. I use the word mechanism
deliberately, to reinforce the notion of a process. For
our nation to survive, it must work for its survival, it must engage in
mechanical actions geared towards enhancing the survival of its
people. These actions are dictated by the ideology, i.e., the
survival mechanism.

Survival Mechanisms: Historical Perspective

To enumerate the various survival mechanisms used by Assyrians, it
is convenient to divide Assyrian history into five periods:

1. From the emergence of Assyrians to 2400 B.C.
2. From 2400 B.C. to 612 B.C.
3. From 612 B.C. to 33 A.D.
4. From 33 A.D. to 1300 A.D.
5. From 1300 A.D. to 1918 A.D.

From the Emergence of Assyrians to 2400 B.C.

The earliest Assyrians lived in loosely connected agricultural
societies. As time passed, these societies united in a common
cause of self defense against nomadic and barbaric peoples, who would
periodically invade and loot the land. Here we see a survival
mechanism at work: a society of farmers forming a loose
federation. Beneath this there is a shared ideology; it is an
agrarian ideology which separates the sedentary, farming class from the
nomadic class. This agrarian ideology leads to concrete
actions: the establishment of irregular militias to defend
against nomadic invasions.1

As the agrarian societies grew, they consolidated and became larger,
eventually forming large cities. At this point there arose a need
for a form of central municipal administration. This manifested
itself in the form of monarchies.2

From 2400 B.C. to 612 B.C.

This period of Assyrian history includes the development of two
important survival mechanisms: city-states and empires. The
agrarian ideology, which was the foundation upon which city-states were
built, is modified to accommodate the development of professional
classes, such as potters, artisans, soldiers, and clergy. This
municipal ideology encompasses not only the agrarian class, but the
newly developed professional classes. It is an ideology based on
interdependency. The professional agrarian class supports the
professional militia, in return for protection, while both soldiers and
farmers support the religious class in return for vital spiritual
services. Here again is a new survival mechanism, rooted in the
agrarian ideology, but made more expansive; it is an evolutionary
change, not a revolutionary change, but a change none-the-less.

The culmination of the municipal ideology is the establishment of
the empire. Here we see the municipal idealogy taken to its next
logical level; it becomes an imperial ideology. Once again, it is
an evolutionary change. This imperial ideology becomes a powerful
survival mechanism in the hands of the Assyrians. Of course, the
Neo-Assyrian empire ended in a cataclysmic event in 612 B.C..
This should not , however, be taken to mean that the imperial ideology
failed; on the contrary, it succeeded for eighteen hundred years (since
Sargon I). The collapse of the Assyrian empire can be seen as a
result of competing survival mechanisms, namely, of the Medes,
Scythians, and Babylonians, and the Assyrians. The Assyrians just
happened to have lost.

From 612 B.C. to 33 A.D.

The collapse of the Neo-Assyrian empire marked the end of the
imperial ideology (for Assyrians). This did not mark the end of
the Assyrians, it marked the end of the civil, political, and military
institutions the Assyrians had established. Not much is known
about the Assyrians in the period 612 B.C. to 33 A.D., more
because of a dearth of research into this period rather than inactivity
by the Assyrians. The available evidence shows that the Assyrians
continued living on their ancestral homeland under successive Kingdoms.3 The survival
mechanism during this time seemed to have been based on a ritual of
living from day to day, while remaining inconspicuous and out of the
way of the authorities. This passive ideology was starkly
different from the previous imperial ideology. The Collapse of the
Neo-Assyrian empire was a traumatic event, and the passive ideology was
an equally traumatic, and revolutionary, change of survival mechanisms.

The cataclysmic collapse of the Assyrian empire, and the holocaust
that was the destruction of Nineveh, had a profound effect on the
Assyrians, in the form of the passive ideology, and, in my opinion, is
still being felt to this day, as I shall show below.

From 33 A.D. to 1300 A.D.

A permanent effect of the imperial ideology, an effect that survived
the disappearance of the ideology itself, and the collapse of the
Assyrian empire, was the unification of the Assyrians under one common
nationality, reinforced by living for hundreds of years in their own
state, and the shared experience of the loss of that state. The
effect of the Assyrian empire was to mold a unity based on a common
language, culture, and heritage, to wit, a nation. It is this
nation that survives the disappearance of the imperial ideology and the
Assyrian state, and it is this nation that adopts the passive ideology.

It is this nation that accepts Christianity in 33 A.D.4, although there
remain to be Ashur worshippers until 256 A.D.5 The acceptance of Christianity is
facilitated by the passive ideology present among the Assyrians, for
there is a certain synergy between the passive ideology and
Christianity. The passive ideology is not changed by
Christianity, but it is given a new interpretation in a Christian
context, which rejuvenates it and the Assyrians themselves, setting the
Assyrians on a new enterprise, a missionary enterprise whose
consequences would have far reaching effects.

The passive ideology is modified, but it is not its fundamental
nature that is changed, it is its character that is redefined.
Recall that the passive ideology dictated a subservient attitude on the
part of the Assyrians toward their rulers, without active engagement by
the Assyrians (as a whole) in unfolding world events. This
passive aspect of the passive ideology is now modified to be an active
element. Once again, the Assyrians become active participants in
local and global affairs, this time not through imperialism, but
through an ecclesiastic missionary enterprise. The passive
ideology becomes a missionary ideology. This missionary ideology,
as a redefined passive ideology, becomes the foundation of a new kind
of empire by the Assyrians: a religious empire spanning all of
Asia, from Syria to China and Japan.6 It is an empire founded on divine
revelation and Christian brotherhood. The missionary ideology
even survives the fragmentation of the church itself.7 The achievements of
the Assyrian missionary enterprise are well documented elsewhere.8 Here we are concerned
with when this missionary ideology ends, and why.

From 1300 A.D. to 1918 A.D.

The Assyrian missionary enterprise, which had been so successful
throughout the Asian continent, came to an abrupt end with the coming
of Timurlane the Mongol. The indiscriminate destruction leveled
by Timurlane against the civilizations he encountered put to a
permanent end the Assyrian missionary enterprise, by both the Eastern
and Western Churches.

A large segment of the Assyrian population escaped the ravages of
Timurlane by fleeing into the Hakkary mountains (present day eastern
Turkey); the remaining Assyrians continued to live in their homelands
(presently North Iraq and Syria), and Urmi. New survival
mechanisms were adopted. The active element of the missionary
ideology was extinguished by Timurlane, and the western Assyrians
(Syria), central Assyrians (North Iraq), and Urmi Assyrians reverted to
a passive ideology, while the Hakkary Assyrians adopted an isolationist
ideology. For the first time in its history, segments of the
Assyrian nation had simultaneously adopted different survival
mechanisms. This turn of events, I shall argue, is what has saved
the Assyrians from cultural extinction in the twentieth century.

The four Assyrian communities, over time, begin defining themselves
in terms of their church affiliation. The western Assyrians, all
of whom belonging to the Syrian Orthodox Church, began identifying
themselves as "Jacobites". The remaining communities belonged to
the Assyrian Church of the East. After the division of the Church
of the East in 1550 A.D., the Chaldean Church of Babylon, a Roman
Catholic Uniate, is created, and members of this church begin to call
themselves "Chaldeans". This way of identifying one's self, by
his church affiliation, is what I shall term the denominational
ideology. By the end of the nineteenth century, these three
communities no longer saw themselves as one and the same.

The geographical isolation of the Hakkary Assyrians, imposed upon
them by the rugged and nearly impassable mountain terrain, also forced
upon them a cultural isolation. The price they paid for this was
high: the loss of institutions, the loss of intellectual
vitality, as the population fell to illiteracy, and the church itself
became formalist and stagnant. They also fragmented into
Ashirats, or independent tribes; to this day this tribalism is still a
significant influence in some of the Ashirats. But the reward for
the isolation of the Hakkary Assyrians was the preservation of a
distinct Assyrian culture and a distinct Assyrian language. The
Assyrians of Urmi, by sheer majority of numbers, also managed to
preserve their culture and language.

The Story for the western and central Assyrians is quite
different. Living in open plains, these communities could not
resist the pressures of urbanization, Arabization, and
Islamization. By the end of the nineteenth century, all of the
western Assyrians were speaking Arabic (with the exception of the
Inhabitants of Tur Abdin, who speak Turoyo). The central
Assyrians suffered the same fate, but to a slightly lesser
degree. While it is hazardous to make predictions, it is very
likely that all traces of Assyrian culture would have completely
vanished from the western and central Assyrian communities in the
twenty first century, as they had already lost their language, and
their liturgy was mostly in Arabic. They had, for all intents and
purposes, become Arab Christians. The fate of these two
communities is still unclear, but there is hope that they will be
recovered, a hope brought about by a cataclysmic world event.

World War I

The traumatic events of WW1 had a profound effect on the
Assyrians. The most significant event was the genocide of 750,000 Assyrians
by Turks and Kurds, and, as a result, the extirpation of the Hakkary
Assyrians from their mountain homes. Assyrians fled from the
genocide by moving directly south, to Lebanon, Syria, North Iraq, and
to Urmi. The Hakkary Assyrians brought with them a fierce sense
of independence, and a conscious awareness of a distinct identity, which
was reinforced by their language and Christian heritage.They knew that
they were not Arabs, nor Kurds, nor Turks, nor Iranians. At about
this time, Assyrian intellectuals9 in Urmi and Turkey and North Iraq were
rediscovering their Assyrian heritage, returning to their roots in
Sargon, Ashurbanipal, and Nineveh. These intellectuals began
articulating a conscious Assyrian nationalism. This was
eventually adopted by the Hakkary Assyrians, whose fierce independence
and distinct identity found a natural fit in the idea of a separate
nation. The alert reader will immediately recognize this as a new
survival mechanism: a nationalistic ideology.

From 1918 A.D. to the Present

In the twentieth century, the nationalistic ideology has been
accepted by the eastern Assyrians (of the Church of the East), and by
segments of the western Assyrians (of the Syrian Orthodox Church), and
eastern Catholic Assyrians (of the Chaldean Church of Babylon).
One hundred percent saturation has yet to be achieved. Despite
its success, the nationalistic ideology is in competition with the
denominational ideology, and it is not by all means clear as to which
will emerge victorious. Here we must consider the three Assyrian
denominations individually.

The Assyrians of the Church of the East have completely accepted the
nationalistic ideology. Every member of this community identifies
himself as Assyrian. This rediscovery of their heritage has taken
permanent root, and has survived systematic attacks by the Iraqi
regime. However, the internal problem of tribalism still
persists.

In the Syrian Orthodox community, the nationalistic ideology has
reached fifty percent saturation.10 However, there continues to be a
bitter struggle between denominationalists and nationalists.
Other fringe ideologies are also vying for acceptance (including the
"Aramean" ideology). But by far the most powerful ideology, on
the grass roots level, is Arabism. To complicate matters further,
this community has also split into Orthodox and Syrian Roman Catholic
denominations. The Syrian Catholic community is small in number.

The community of the Chaldean Church of Babylon considered itself
Arab only a short time ago. There has been a steady movement away
from this ideology towards two competing ideologies: Assyrianism
and Chaldeanism. The Chaldean ideology appears to be gaining.

The Denominational Ideology Revisited

So powerful is the denominational ideology, it has resisted attempts
to unify the three Assyrian communities under one Assyrian
nationalism. While it is true that these communities have moved
to redefine their identities in nationalistic terms, each has chosen a
different identity. This is a recipe for disaster.

The Technological Threat

In the past two millennia, the Assyrian nation has endured hardship
and suffering in defense of its culture and Christian faith; from
countless genocides to forced conversion, and -- more damaging that the
worst pogroms -- the Jizzeyah, a tax imposed on Christians by the
Arabs. Until fifty years ago our nation endured these hardships,
in its homeland, for the simple reason that there was no where else to
go, and even if there were, there was no practical method of mass
migration. In the second half of the twentieth century, this is
no longer true. While the hardships for our nation are still
there, there is now an escape mechanism: the jet airplane.

We live in a unique period in human history. In no other era
could a man travel to any location in the world in less than twenty
four hours.11
The Implication for Assyrians is clear. When life in our homeland
becomes unbearable, it is natural for our people to seek better living
conditions, and they do, as 1.5 million Assyrians have already departed
to the West. This emigration, facilitated by man's great
technological triumphs, is the greatest short term threat to our
nation's survival. The harsh economic conditions in the middle
east, and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, coupled with a high
standard of living in the Christian West, join to form a Western black
hole into which our nation is inexorabley pulled, and which it cannot
resist. As already stated, 1.5 million Assyrians have left for
the West, and the remaining 2 million continue to leave.

The technological threat comes not only from jet airplanes, it comes
from television, radio, computers, CD players, video games. Take
television as an example. What is shown on television? If an
Assyrian child watches television in America, or England, or Sweden,
which culture does he absorb? We see that technology is not the
source of the threat, but an instrument of cultural projection.

The Threat of Cultural Immersion

Technology is but one of the many tools used in indoctrination into
a culture, the others being educational, governmental, civil, social,
and business institutions. When everyday activities, such as
shopping in a grocery store, require one to assume a different culture,
the dominant culture of the land, then the battle for one's own
cultural survival is doomed to ultimate defeat, because one's own
culture will lose its survival utility. This threat of cultural
immersion is just as true in middle eastern countries as it is in
western countries. It is clear that cultures that own the
technological and social institutions of a land are the cultures who
can project themselves, and quickly absorb other cultures within that
land. Assyrians cannot escape from cultural immersion (and
absorption) no matter where they go to, simply because they cannot, at
the present time, project their culture.

Can Assyrians survive in the West, as Assyrians speaking their
language and preserving their culture? No. Assyrians will
not be able to indefinitely resist the pressures of assimilation.
Can Assyrians survive in the middle east? No, for the just stated
reason. How, then, can Assyrians survive in the middle
east? The answer is not difficult, but its implementation is
difficult, and it will be the greatest challenge faced by our nation.

Assyrian Nationalism: a Survival
Mechanism

The Assyrian nation today stands at a crossroad; ahead of it lie two
paths. The path it takes will determine its future survival.
The path it is currently on is littered with these sign-posts:

Denominationalism and fragmentation of the
Assyrian nationIslamic fundamentalism and IslamizationCultural immersion and absorption into Arab
societiesMass emigration to the West, and absorption
into Western societies

All of these will combine to overwhelm our nation and bring it to
its end in the next century. This is what lies ahead on the
current path. We will not survive as a nation if we remain on
this path.

Is there a path that leads to the survival of our nation?
Yes! It is a long and difficult path, but it is open to us now,
and it can take us into the twenty first century and beyond!

The Assyrian Nationalistic Ideology

A survival mechanism is an ideology, a set of principles which lead
from abstract doctrines to concrete actions. Given this, I propose
the following as the axiomatic doctrines of the nationalistic ideology:

The Assyrian people,
including the Church of the East, The Chaldean Church of Babylon, the
Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Syrian Catholic communitites,
constitute an integral Nation, indivisible and sharing a common
language, culture, beliefs and attitudes.

It is the birth-right of every Assyrian, regardless of his birth-place, to
claim his homeland Assyria and to be allowed to return to it and to
live in it.

These axiomatic doctrines are self evident truths. No stronger
foundation can be laid down other than by these two simple, elegant
doctrines. To what actions do these doctrines lead us, given the
technological and cultural threat to our nation? Here is a list:

Unify the four Assyrian denominations
under one Assyrian national identity. It is clear that our nation
cannot resist the pressures of cultural assimilation if it is
divided. There are only 3.5 million Assyrians worldwide; even
this number is perilously low (it should be a policy of church and
community leaders to encourage the formation of large families).

Establish zones of Assyrian cultural
dominance, areas where Assyrians are the majority and where all of the
technological, governmental, civil, educational, social, and business
institutions project the Assyrian culture.

Stop emigration of Assyrians from the
middle east. While it is true that the threat of cultural
immersion is just as real in the middle east as it is in Western
countries, the rate of assimilation is much slower in the middle
east. Remaining in the middle east buys our nation more time to
address the true source of the threat: the lack of zones of
Assyrian cultural dominance.

Support Assyrians who study fields
related to the Assyrian question. Establish scholarship funds,
and academic, political, professional, and philosophical
societies. Encourage the pursuit of Assyrian studies in all
aspects of Assyrian history, politics, and culture.

Conclusion

The Assyrian nation has adapted itself to new circumstances several
times in its history, and it must do so again in this century if it is
to survive into the future. I have shown that the denominational
ideology is the greatest internal threat to our nation, and cultural
absorption into Arab and Western societies is the greatest external
threat. Our nation cannot combat the threat of cultural immersion
if it remains divided along denominational lines, the job is simply to
big for each little denomination to tackle alone. It is,
therefore, imperative that these four denominations are brought under
the umbrella of Assyrian nationalism, to maximize their survival
chances. This new survival mechanism, Assyrian nationalism,12 must be adopted
immediately. Time is running out. . .

10 This is
based on estimates from members of the western Assyrian community.

11
Geographers call this phenomenon time-space convergence, where, as a
result of technological progress, humans are constantly nearing each
other spatially and temporally, but not culturally. See Harm j.
De Blij and Peter O. Muller; Geography: Regions an d Concepts,
Fourth Edition; John Wiley & Sons; 1985; pp 177-181.

12 This
Assyrian nationalism is the right of self determination of Assyrians,
and cannot be questioned by non-Assyrians. In his book the Church
of the East and Church of England, Dr. Coakley, in footnote number 12,
refers to Assyrian nationalism as a "bogus ethnology". This is
purely an orientalist statement and is completely beyond the scope of
the book or Dr. Coakley's right to comment upon.